


(You're My) Hero

by mostlyvoide



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 18:57:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4316016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mostlyvoide/pseuds/mostlyvoide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard wishes that Barry Allen had been around when he was a child.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(You're My) Hero

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was the beginning of a character study about Leonard Snart. It’s a little bit disjointed because it’s a work in progress, but it makes enough sense. 
> 
> This fic includes mentions of Leonard Snart’s childhood. If you don’t know anything about Captain Cold’s childhood, tread lightly. If you do know something about it, please consider yourselves warned.

Leonard had forgotten that Barry Allen didn’t only deal with whatever Big Bad was currently terrorising Central City. The Scarlet Speedster had a day job. That day job dealt with crime that didn’t require super powers or special guns.

It shouldn’t have been surprising that Leonard would encounter Barry dealing with… something close to home, considering how familiar Leonard was with all sorts of petty crime.

Not that he would call the sort of crime Barry was currently dealing with ‘petty’. In fact, Leonard felt inclined to involve himself in making sure that the crime was punished as he saw fit. He knew how inadequate the police could be when it really counted.

The only thing stopping him was the fact that he’d gotten caught up in watching Barry Allen. Currently, the Scarlet Speedster had a little girl sitting on his lap as she peered into a microscope. She was a pretty child. Her hair was done up in short twisted braids tied with light blue rubber bands that matched her light blue dress and shoes. She would have looked like she belonged in those wholesome stock photos, if it weren’t for the dark bruises littering her face and arms.

Leonard had seen David Singh lead the child to Barry as they took her father away, and Barry had nodded gravely at the captain before smiling brightly at the little girl.

“Do you like science?” he’d asked.

The little girl had scrunched her nose at him. “Not really. I like princesses.”

“Well then, maybe after I show you some cool science stuff you can like princesses and science. Would that be nice?”

 

 

From what Leonard could see, Barry had succeeded in making the little girl like science. She’d been 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing over various things for the past hour, and listening intently whenever Barry excitedly explained some scientific thing.

Leonard imagined somebody like Barry doing this for Lisa when she had been a child and fervently wished that there had been a Barry Allen in their childhood.

It was a weird wish.

Leonard could admit wishing for The Flash several times. He had a particularly nasty burn from a robbery gone wrong a few years back that he wished The Flash had prevented.

One time he’d even thought about what his life would have been like if The Flash had interfered with their father. It was a ridiculous thought, and he’d frowned and waved it off when it’d popped into his head. Wishing that there had been a… hero to save him and Lisa was ridiculous.

Wishing for someone kind, however, who would have comforted him and Lisa… well. There would always be fathers and mothers who raised their voices and hands to their children. But there wasn’t always a Barry Allen, who seemed to come out of nowhere in order to offer a soft, comforting light after the darkness.

He remembered himself and Lisa, sitting with their backs to their bedroom door. It had always been 50/50 that the tactic would work. On a lucky day, the combined resistance of both their bodies would be enough to stop their father from entering the room. Sometimes, he would be persistent, and their attempt at resistance would be met with worser punishment.

He remembered telling Lisa to gather her favourite toys, remembered Lisa’s excited voice asking if they were running away. Remembered her disappointment when he told her they couldn’t.

Mostly, he remembered how it had never felt like it was over. How even when both he and Lisa had escaped that place, that time, it had engraved itself into their bones. Watching Barry Allen work the miracle of making a little girl laugh after an experience Leonard knew carved itself into your bones … it was something even more miraculous, even more special than The Flash.

Leonard didn’t want to be the person to snuff that kind of light out.

It was a realisation that would change everything between him and Barry Allen, between Captain Cold and The Flash. He just didn’t know it yet.

**Author's Note:**

> riceandshine|tumblr


End file.
